LADIES' COLUMN.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 241, 29 January 1898, Page 6 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

COOKERY. Ham a la Gelee. —Take a nice small York ham, soak it over night in old water, then trim off about one eighth of an inch of tho underneath part, and saw off tho end of tho knuckle ; tie tho ham np in a clean cloth and put it in a saucepan with enough cold water to cover it, bring gently to tho boil, then place the cover on tho pan, and let it simmer very slowly for two and a-half to three hours, take the pan from the stovo and ret it aside till quite cold, take up tho ham on a dish, remove tho cloth and carefully take off the skin, with the exception of that towards the knncklo end which can bo left on to about the depth of three and a half inches, and the edge of whhh can be vandyked by means of a pair of scissors. Take a sharp, small pointed knife and carefully trim the top part of the fat off the ham, and then wipe it all over with a clean dry fine cloth, have lomc aspic jelly jurt liquid and of the consistency of thick cream, glaze the ham all over with this, by moans of a pastry brush, place it on a silver dish and then garnish it tastefully with cut aspic jelly and butter using, a forcing bag for tho latter, with a little rose pipe for the purpose. Garnish also round tho edge of the dish with prettily cut blocks of aspic jelly, and between each block a little rose of tho butter can bo formed ; place on the knuckle bone a frill of white foolscap paper and serve. This is a suitab’e dish for a luncheon party, t t f Butter for Garnishing Ham.—Take half a pound of fresh butter, put it into a clean basin and work it with a wooden spoon till quite white like cream, which will take about fifteen minutes, then divide the butter into two parts, colour one part slightly with cccbineal till a Eale salmon colour, put both parts side y side into a forcing b ig with a rose pipe and they will come out from it in mixed colours. + t t Curried Egos a la Bengal.—Peel three onions, cut them iu very thin slices and put them into a stewpan with 2oz. of fat or butter and 2oz. of chopped loan bacon ; add 2 finely chopped bayleaves and a sprig of chopped thyme; fry these all together for about fifteen minutes till a nice golden colour, being careful not to break the onions more than possible in the frying, then lightly sprinkle in a tablespoonful of fine flour, and if liked one-small scraped clove of garlic, a saltspoouful of ground allspice, a teaspoonful of curry powder, a pinch of ground ginger, a teaspoonful of salt, three-quarters of a pint of any light meat stock or milk, and boil together on the side of the stove till the mixture is almost dry ; then add to it twelve hard boiled eggs cut up in thin round slices, and make all hot again. Turn out on a hot dish in a border of plainly boiled rice ; garnish round the rice with little bunches of hard boiled yolks of egg that have been rubbed through a wire sieve, and shredded green capsicums and serve. —Cooked vegetables are excellent — served in tho same way, and fish, poultry, or meat left from previous meals can bo used in a similar manner. t t t Fillets of Fish in Cases a la Maitbed’ Hotel.—Skin the flat fish take off tho fillets, bat them out well, trim them neatly, season the skinned side with white pepper and salt, and roll up each fillet so that the seasoned tide is inwards, tie up each in a little band of battered paper, and place them in a buttered stewpan, pour a little lemon juice over the fillets, put the cover on tho pan, and place it iu a moderate oven or on the side of tho stove for twelve to fifteen minutes. Remove the paper from tho fillets, and place each one in a small paper case which has been rubbed on the outside with salad oil and dried.— When about to serve place on the top of each fillet a piece of Maitre d' Hotel butter about the size of a walnut, pour a few drops of thin g’aze on tho top of the butter, dish the cases quickly on a dish paper and serve hot. These can be served for breakfast or luncheon, or as a fish course at dinner. Any liquor left over from the cooking of the fillets can be kept for fish stock. + t t Sauted Kidneys.—Take 4 mutton kidneys remove the skins and cores, and ent them into shoes, crosswise about barely a quarter of an inch thick, and season with a little pepper and salt, put of butter in a saute pan, or frying pan, and let it get hot but not browned ; put the slices of kidney into the pan as soon os the butter is quite hot, and keep shaking about in the pan over the fire for about two minutes ; then turn them into a pointed strainer, and let the fat they were cooked in drain from them, clean out the pan, and put in it about l tabloapoonful of sherry ; when this is hot add \ oz. of glaze and 3 or 4 tablespoonfuls” of brown sauce, let this boil up for two or three minutes, then add the slices of kidney, but do not let them boil, or they will shrivel up and become tough ; pile them on a hoc dish with the sauce round, and garnish with five or six little bunches of fried potatoes. Serve for breakfast, luncheon or entree. Kidneys prepared tho same way may be served in an omelet for breakfast or second course. t f f Open Tart.—Butter a tart pan, roll out tho paste to a thickness of A inch, line the pan with it; prick a few holes at the bottom with a fork and bake the tart in a brisk oven fion ten to fifteen minutes. Let the paste 000 l a litie; then fill it with preserve, place a few stars or leaves on it, which have been previously cut out of the paste, and baked, and the tart is ready for tho table By making it in this manner, brth tho flavour and the colour of the jam are preserved, which would otherwis3 be lott, were it baked in tho oven on the paste, and besides, so much jam is not required, rtf Tipsy Cake. —Ingredients : 1 moulded sponge cake, sufficient sweet wine cr sherry to soak it, 6 tablespoonfuls of brandy, 2oz, sweet almonds, 1 pint rich custard. Preparation : Procure a cuke' that is 3 or 4 days old, cut off a slice at the bottom so that it may stand level ami firm in the dish, make a small hole in tho centre, and pour in and over the cake sufficient sweet wine or sherry, mixed with the above proportion of brandy, to soak it tbrough well. When the cake is well soaked, blanch (he almonds and cut them into strips, stick them all ever the cake, and pour round it a good custard, made by allowing 5 eggs to 1 pint of milk. The cake is sometimes crumbled and soaked with the wine, and whipped cream heaped over it the same as for trifles. t f t Thanksgiving Cake. 11b butter, 11b sifted flour, lib sugar, currants, 2oz. candied peel, 2oz. of almonds, 8 eggs, a little nutmeg and mixed spice, pinch of salt. Preparation : Mix all tho dry ingredients together, blanch and chop the almonds finely and add them, beat the butter and sugar to cream, add the eggs well beateu, mix well, then add the other ingredients gradually beating well all the time, after all are in, beat the mixture thoroughly for ten minutes. Have ready a cake tin lined with buttered paper, pour in the mature and bake 2 hours in a moderate oven. f f t Rhubarb and Orange Jim.—lngredients : 1 quart finely cut rhubarb, 6 oranges, Ulb loaf sugar. Preparation : Peel the oranges, remove as much of the white pith as possible, divide and take out tho pips, slice the pulp into a preserving pan, add tho lind of half the oranges cut into thin strips, and the loaf sugar broken small. Peel the rhubarb, cut it into thin pieces, add it to the oranges and stir all 'together over a

gentle fire, till the jam ia done. Remove the. scum as it rises, put into pots and cover. Should the rhubarb be very old, stew it alone for a quarter of an hour beforo adding the other ingredients.